recognised the divinities of the popular faiths as well as the existence of dasmons, some good, some evil, as nec- essary mediators between the divine and human.
(3.) L. Apuleius (born about A.D. 130), a teacher of the Platonic and Aristotelian philosophies at ^ledaura, I in Numidia, was a Latin representative of the then jire- I vailing tendency to the assimilation of Oriental and ; Occidental philosophy. Holding that it was deroga- tory to the proper conception of God to have him bur- dened with the superintendence of tilings, he assigns to him, as the ministers who direct "mundane events," hosts of daemons, whose abode is in the air, and who are the objects of the religious ceremonies both of the Greeks and the barbarians, and also of the practice of magic. He speaks of a trinity of divine faculties, im- mutable, eternal, viz. God himself, the divine IJeason, and the World-Soul.
(4.) Numenius of Apamea, in Syria, who flourished in the latter half of the second century after Christ, showed in his writings (of which fragments only have come down to us) even a stronger tendency towards Oriental ideas, and referred the origin of Greek philos- oiihy to Jewish, Egyptian, Magian, and Brahminical sources. Suidas (s. v.) quotes him as styling Plato the Attic Moses {tI yap tart UXdruiv f) Moxtj/c Arridrisaii';). So highly was he esteemed by the Neo-Platonists of the following periods that some authors regard him as the real founder of the Alexandrian school, an honor denied him by the Alexandrians themselves because of his Syrian origin and non-residence in their midst. He further developed the conception of a trinity in the divine Being, who was incorporeal, by distinguisliiiig therein, 1st, a perfectly intelligent, immutable, eternal, supreme God; 2d, a world-maker, or demiurgos; and, 3d, the world. These he terms father, son, and grand- son (TraTTTToCi tffyoi'oc, oVoyoj'ot,'), and ascribes the doc- trine to both Plato and his master, Socrates. Nume- nius also held that the soul is immortal and immaterial, and that its descent into the body from its former in- corporeal state implies previous moral delinquency — a conception indicating an acquaintance with Jewish and Christian doctrines on the fall of man. Cronius, de- scribed by Porphyr\' as a friend of Numenius, and who shared his opinions, was, according to Siiidas (s. v. 'ilpt- yfv}]g), the author of writings studied by the Christian Origen.
(5.) Some of the -writings popularly attributed to the mythical Hermes Trismegistus treat of religious and philosophical subjects in the style and from the stand- point of Neo-Platonism, and are classed among the pro- ductions of the ICgyptiau Platonists. The reputed au- thor -was the Egyptian Thot or Theut, identified with the Greek Hermes, who. as the fabled author of all the discoveries and ]>roductions of the human mind, the source o'f all knowledge and thought, the embodied Lo- gos, was dignified with the title oi'Tphj Miyttrroc, thrice (/reatest (may there not be in this name a reference to the Nco- Platonic trinity?). Some of these writings " belonged to the school of Philo, and were known to Plutarch; others are of a much later date, and not un- affected by the influence of Christianity." The Poi- mtinder, one of the largest and most important of these works still extant, seems to have been composed in im- itation of the Pastor of Hermas. It gives views of nat- ure, the world, (Jod, and the human soul quite in the spirit of Neo-Platonism, but witli such occasional ad- mixture of Oriental, Jewish, and Christian ideas as to show the syncretism peculiar to the philosophy of the time.
(6.) Ammonius, called Saccas from his vocation of corn-porter (lived from about .V.D. 175 to 250), is usu- ally regarded as the founder of the Alexandrio-Koman school of Neo-Platonism. He was born of Christian parents, and by them trained in the principles of their faith, but probably apostatized when his mind became absorbed in the study of heathen philosophy. Though of humble origin, and destitute of the advantages of
NEO-PLATONISM
941
NEO-PLATONISM
early culture, his enthusiastic love of knowledge and his great natural abilities enabled him to overcome the disadvantages surrounding him, and to found a school of philosophy, and to attract to it pupils whose subse- quent fame as philosophers made the name of their master illustrious. Of these the most prominent were Plotinus, the two Origens, the philologist Longinus, and Herennius. Ammonius left no written record of his opinions, and we are indebted to his disciples, especially Plotinus, for what knowledge we possess of his doc- trines. His aim in general was to show the agreement, if not substantial identity, of the systems of Plato and Aristotle.
(7.) Plotinus was the first to develop and systematize in written form the Neo-Platonic doctrines. He was born at Lycopolis, a city of Upper Egypt, A.D. 205, and was so delicate and sickly as to prevent his early train- ing ; consequently he was twenty-eight years of age be- fore he had so far completed his preparatory education as to be able to turn his attention to philosophy. After he had tried several teachers without satisfaction, a companion took him to hear Ammonius lecture, and so pleased was Plotinus that he exclaimed, " This is the man of whom I was in search !"' He attended upon the teaching of Ammonius for eleven years, when, desirous of visiting the Brahmins and the Magi to learn their philoscjphy, he joined the ill-fated expedition of the emperor Gordian against the Persians. After the death of tliat emperor Plotinus with difficulty escaped to An- tioch, and thence repaired to Rome, where at the age of forty years he established himself as a teacher of philosophy, and remained in Italy until his death, A.U. 270. According to the statement of Porphyry (Vi/a Plotini, ch. ii), he had agreed with his fellow -disciples, Herennius and Origen, not to divulge the doctrines of tlicir master, Ammonius; but Herennius having broken this promise, and being followed by Origen, Plotinus felt liimself no longer bound to silence in this respect, and made public these doctrines, at first in oral lectures, wliich afterwards, by the solicitations of friends, he was induced to publish in written form for the use of a few select hearers. At various times he added to the num- ber of his written compositions, until, at his death, the whole, as edited and published by his pupil, Porphyrj', amounted to fifty-four books. In this number, fifty- four, Porphyry Avas delighted to have the multiple of the perfect mystic numbers, six and nine; and the whole were arranged in six enneads or groups of nine treatises each. The following summary of their contents is from Donaldson (in his continuation of Mliller), viz.: "Tlie first comprised the moral positions; the sfcoud, tlio phj-sical discussions; the third, the theory of the world ; the fourth treated of the soul; the fifth, of the intellect and ideas; the sixt/i, of entity, unity, and the good. Again, the first three eimmds, the fourth and fiftli, and the last, formed three separate bodies {(jihixara).'' Plo- tinus enjoyed in an extraordinary degree the esteem, or rather reverence, of his followers, upon whom his ascetic virtues, his mysticism and enthusiasm, made the impression of a divine inspiration and particiiiation in divinity. These feelings were doubtless intensified by the display of energy and tireless activity of a spirit encased in so frail a body as his. For this body he felt a true ascetic's contempt, as was shown by his an- swer to Amelius's importunate request that he would sit for his likeness. Said he, " Is it not sufficient to carry about the image which nature has placed around us, and must one leave behind a more lasting image of this image, as though it. were something worth looking at?" (Donaldson). His asceticism and contempt for the body show the influence of Oriental ideas on his mind.